Robots have fascinated to the human race as soon as they started
to think about machines or simulacrums. This narrative will display
a timeline on robotics. Future attachments will explain more in depth
the workings of robots and developments in robotics: hardware, software
and artificial intelligence.

The status of this page is to give you a first impression of the history
of robotics and will be extended regularly.

If you feel developments or events have been skipped or wrongly interpreted
or need additional information or you want to become co-editor of this
Robotics section, or contribute
in any other way, please contact the editor

Keynotes

Leonardo da Vinci designs a "robot" in 1495.

The term robot comes from a play written by K. Capek, RUR 1921,
Czech novelist and playwright.

First "arm" that can be programmed to perform tasks
developed by George Devol in 1954.

Generally there are two classes of robots: Stationary (manufacturing)
and Mobile (surveillance)

Robots are in use for entertainment, commerce, industry, and
advanced research. - everything from interactive toys to robots
that go down oil wells to animated simulations of humanoids in
museum displays.

~3500 BC

Greek
myths of Hephaestus and Pygmalion incorporate the idea of intelligent mechanisms.
Something we would later call robots.

~2500
BC

Egyptians
invent the idea of thinking machines: citizens turn for advice to oracles,
which are statues with priests hidden inside.

~1400 BC

Babylonians
develop a water clock named the "clepsydra."

This water clock is considered one of the first "robotic"
devices in the history of man kind. The water is recycled
through a kind of siphoning system.

~700 - 800 BC

First
symbolic mention of robots (automatae) appears in Homer's Iliad(7) -
or simulacra as they will be called later.

Here they are called "Golden Servants" made by the Greek mythological
god Hephaestus: the binding god. His particular power's
are to mold metals into living beings made of precious metals. In Greek
mythology, heavens are made of metal (bronze or gold) and Hephaestus is
known as the celestial smith.
Archeologists will find hollow statues
in which were hidden substances, believed to be potions, that should give
mythological powers to these statues. A conclusion can be made that in the
believe of the early Greek culture these statues would come, or were, alive
and guard the premises when needed. Just like the Golden Servants that serve
the god Hephaestus in his celestial forge are alive, given a soul
by Hephaestus.

427 BC

In the Phaedo and later works Plato expresses ideas, several millennia before
the advent off the computer that are relevant to modern dilemmas regarding
human thought and its relation to the mechanics of the machine.

420 BC

Archytas of Tarentum, a friend of Plato, constructs a wooden pigeon whose
movements are controlled by a jet of steam or compressed air.

~350 BC

The
brilliant Greek mathematician, Archytas of Tarentum builds a mechanical
bird dubbed "the Pigeon", that is propelled by steam. It serves
as one of histories earliest studies of flight, not to mention probably
the first model airplane.

~322 BC

The Greek philosopher Aristotle writes...

“If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord,
could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either
of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.”
...

hinting how nice it would be to have a few robots around.

~270

The
Greek inventor and physicist Ctesibus ('ti sib ee uhs') of Alexandria
designs water clocks that have movable figures on them.

Water clocks are a big breakthrough for timepieces.
Up until then the Greeks used hour glasses that had to be turned
over, after all the sand ran through. Ctesibus' invention changes
this because it measures time as a result of the force of water
falling through it at a constant rate. In general, the Greeks
of this epoch are fascinated with automata of all kinds often
using them in theater productions and religious ceremonies.

~200 BC

~50 BC

The
Greek tradition is revived by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (90 -20 BC, who
describes several automata and developed the canon of proportions,
which will become the basis of classical anatomical and architectural
aesthetics.
(5)(3)

8 AD

One
of the first stories of A.I.,
as a story is written of how a man falls in love with a statue he has
created that has come to life.

100 AD app.

Hero
of Alexandria detailed several automata that were used in theater and
for religious purposes. He also designed automata that opened the gates
on hydraulic principles.

725

A Chinese engineer and a Buddhist monk build the first
true mechanical clock a water-driven device with an escapement that causes
the clock to tick.

1200 AD app.

The most famous amongst them is Al-Jazari. He wrote Automata
- which is considered the most important text for the study of the History
of Technology. This book is richly illustrated and gives the state of
the art of technology in the middle ages and shows how advanced technology
in that time was compared with the western countries.(6)

Talking heads were said to have been
created, Roger Bacon and Albert the Great reputedly among the owners.

1400

Automated
carillons begin to appear in the Netherlands.

1495

robot and design by Leonardo da Vinci

In
approximately 1495, before he began work on the Last Supper, Leonardo
designed and possibly built the first humanoid robot in Western civilization.(4)

The robot, an outgrowth of his earliest anatomy and kinesiology
studies recorded in the Codex Huygens, was designed according to the
Vitruvian canon. This armored robot knight was designed to sit up, wave
its arms, and move its head via a flexible neck while opening and closing
its anatomically correct jaw. It may have made sounds to the accompaniment
of automated drums. On the outside, the robot is dressed in a typical
German-Italian suit of armor of the late fifteenth century. This robot
would influence his later anatomical studies in which he modeled the
human limbs with cords to simulate the tendons and muscles.(3)

~1500

In the 16th century Clockmakers extended their craft to
creating mechanical animals and other novelties.

The technology of clockmaking has contributed considerably
to the contruction of Atomata and calculators alike.

1525

The
first real android in human form that has been recorded is thought to
have been built, approximately in this year, by Hans Bullmann at Nuernberg
Germany.

He is said to have created quite a few androids - simulated
people of which some can even play musical instruments to the delight
of paying customers. (16)
Contemporary with Bullmann was Gianello Torriano of Cremona (1515-1585).
One of his figures, that of a woman lute player, survived and is now
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.(20)

1533

In
his laboratory at Nuernberg, scholar Johann Müller, a.k.a. Regiomontanus,
is reputed to have created an iron fly and an artificial eagle, both of
which could take to the air. Supposedly with steam pressure.(16)

1543

In
England, John Dee creates a wooden beetle that can fly for an undergraduate
production of Aristophanes' Pax.(16)

1560

Here
is a fine example of the technology of automata in the sixteenth century.

Shown here is a wooden monk, apr 30 centimeters in height,
with a crude lever and joints mechanism. The purpose of this puppet
will remain guesswork, and how long it took to create it too. But with
our contemporary tooling it would certainly take a few months to get
this intricate machinery working. A scientist in historic tooling would
probably give it a year, but to our opinion at least 2 years of trying
and retrying. This proves that making automata still went on during
the dark ages. (the above pictures are taken at the Deutsches Museum
at Munich in Germany, and the statuette stands behind very thick glass,
that's why you see some reflection in the pictures)

1564

picture from: Dix livres de chirurgie (Paris
1564)

In Dix livres de chirurgie (Paris 1564)
Pare Ambroise publishes a design of a mechanical hand. Made from
the real thing enforced with mechanical "muscles".

You'll observe that comparing the two examples given here and
above the metal work is of a comparable level. This level of
mechanics in this epoch opens enormous possibilities. So why
did developments stop? In Gaby Wood's book Living Dolls (see library)
some indication is given: superstition. Also according to Wood:
inventors dealing with human like automatons had to be very
careful. For the clerics closely watched these developments,
an inquisition counsel was always nearby. Not in all countries
though.

1580

Rabbi
Loew of Prague is said to have invented the Golem, a clay man brought
to life.

18th century

It
is in the 18th century, halfway through the Edo period, that Japan sees
the debut of puppets, called "karakuri-ningyo," with mechanisms
fitted inside that makes them move by themselves.

At about the same time, similar mechanical dolls, called
"auto-mata", appear in Europe. As for the Japanese puppets,
their initial development dates back to the middle of the 16th century
when "Nanban (foreign) culture" made its way to the country
near the end of the Muromachi Era. A close examination of the puppet's
mechanism points to the particular influence of the clock making technology
of Europe brought to Japan by Francis Xavier and other Jesuit missionaries.

1725

At
the Heilbrunn chateau in Germany, a mechanical theatre is created featuring
119 animated figures that perform a play about village life to the accompaniment
of a water-powered organ.(16)

Jacques Vaucanson

While
training as a Jesuit, Jacques Vaucanson creates flying angels which cause
him to be thrown out of the order. (16)

1727

The
now famous word "android" is coined after German philosopher
and alchemist Albertus Magnus who attempts to create an artificial being.

1737

French
inventor Jacques Vaucanson creates several robotic beings, including a
human-sized, flute-playing android.

1738

He builds three in all. His first was the flute player
that could play twelve songs. This was closely followed by his second
automaton that played a flute and a drum or tambourine, but by far his
third was the most famous of them all. The duck was an example of Vaucanson's
attempt at what he called "moving anatomy", or modeling human
or animal anatomy with mechanics." The duck moved, quacked, flapped
it's wings and even ate and digested food.

1753

Actually
the very first writing automata, in the western world, was developed by
Knaus in 1753.

If you look closely to the top of this contraption you
will observe some writing on a white rectangular piece of paper. And
as was usual in these centuries, the ornaments were almost as important
as the functionality of the machine itself.

1760

German
Inventor Friedrich von Knauss creates an android able to hold a pen and
write a segment of up to 107 words.

1772

1773

Pierre
and Henry Louis Jaquet-Droz (Swiss) invented the first automaton that
could write.

Soon after that they build another automaton that draws
a portrait of King Louis XV. Taking the word 'robot' in a broad sense,
we might say that their machines are some of the first working robots.
They create three dolls, each with a unique function. One can write,
another plays music, and the third draws pictures as the one shown here.

At the museum d'Arts et d'Histore
at Neuchâtel, Switzerland, public demonstrations of the
Jaquet-Droz automations can be attended. Demonstrations are held at
the first sunday of each month at 14, 15, and 16 hours. Price is included
in the admission of the museum.(24) The above automata
draws 4 sketches, each sketch is drawn in about 3 minutes.

A nice book on this type of early automatons is written
by Gaby Woods at
least the fist few chapters, after that the book is less to the point.

1801

Joseph
Jacquard builds an automated loom that is controlled with punched cards.
Punch cards are later used as an input method for some of the 20th centuries
earliest computers.

1810

This is an example of a program (e.g. stepped drum) mounted
into an automata to play a tune, like the European street organs.
The notches mounted on the drum activated valves that let the air
pass by 12 tongues. Which produced a kind of modulated sound. This
sound will be modulated through a trumpet so it does sound like a
trumpet The stepped drum and the bellows are powered by a spring mechanism
that need to be wound up, observe the crank laying at the bottom.
The height of this automata is apr. 180 cm.

1818

Mary
Shelley writes the famous novel "Frankenstein." which is about
a frightening artificial life form created by Dr. Frankenstein.

The Frankenstein complex still resides in the mind
of the general public. Pointing towards the possible mishap that will
undoubtedly be caused by malfunction of robots and alike and that all
machines will eventually turn against human kind. Later fears, misshapen,
accidents and even novels concerning artificial life forms will deal
with this so called "Frankenstein complex". In the mind of
mankind robots are bound to cause accidents or other imaginary mischief.

1822

Charles
Babbage demonstrates a prototype of his "Difference Engine"
to the Royal Astronomical Society.

He continues his work by designing an even more ambitious
project "the Analytical Engine" that reportedly was to use
punch cards inspired by Joseph Jacquard's invention. During his lifetime
he never produces a functional version of any of the machines. Despite
this shortcoming he is often heralded as the "Father of the Computer"
and his work lives on as the foundation for the binary numbering system
that is the basis of modern computers. A computer will form the "brain"
of future robots.

1892

1898

1921

The
word ROBOT is used for the first time in the context of mechanical people
in a play called "R.U.R" (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Czech
dramatist Karel Capek.

These are intelligent machines meant to serve their human
makers. But the play ends dramatic as robots took over the world and
destroyed humanity. The Frankenstein syndrome invented before he was
even there! Karel Capek (Czech) called these powerful beings
"robota" meaning forced and slavishly work. He distinguishes
the robot from man by the absence of emotion.(12)

1926

"Maria" the female robot in the film is the
first robot to be projected on the silver screen. The android is built
in the form of its creator's wife. This movie is commonly known as the
precursor to Star War's C-3PO.(19)

1936

Alan
Turing introduces the concept of a theoretical computer called the
Turing Machine.

It is a fundamental advance in computer logic and also
spawns new schools in Mathematics. He completes his seminal paper On
Computable Numbers, which paves the way for modern computers.

1938

The
first programmable paint-spraying mechanism is designed by Americans Willard
Pollard and Harold Roselund for the DeVilbiss Company.

1940

The story is about a robot and its affection for
a child that it is bound to protect. Over the next 10 years
he produces more stories about robots that are eventually recompiled
into the volume "I, Robot" in 1950. (14)

1942

Asimov
is generally credited with the popularization of the term "Robotics"
which was first mentioned in his story "Runaround" in 1942.

But probably Isaac Asimov's most important contribution
to the history of the robot is the creation of his Three Laws
of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings
except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Asimov later adds a "zeroth law" to the list:

0. A robot may not injure humanity,
or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

continue

rony gelman (doughert@acf2.nyu.edu),
pictures are enhanced and adapted for the web (size)

3

//www.imss.florence.it/news/mostra/6/e65.html

4

Leonardo's inspiration came from
ancient Greek texts.

5

"De Architectura libri decem"
(ten books on architecture)

6

www.fins-books.com (facsimils
print)

7

Most scholars agree that the time period
in which the events in Homer's Iliad, take about 1200 B.C.E. But they believe
that the Iliad was not written down until somewhere between 800
and 600 B.C.E. It is in this epos that Homerus wrote down the idea of metal
servants.

9

digitalized picture Topkapi museum
Istanbul Turkey

10

picture thocf 2003 - taken in the Deutsches
Museum Munich

11

Picture digitally enhanced by THOCF, origin
unknown

12

According to CHIP September 1991 the original play was
performed in 1938